TidBITS#402/27-Oct-97
=====================
Is Apple "betting the farm" by shaking up the familiar six-colored
tree? Although the long-range implications of Steve Jobs's
decisions are anyone's guess, Adam looks at why replanting Apple's
orchard might save the farm. Also in this issue, we look at a new
crop of HTML utilities, note the Newton MessagePad 2100 and new
versions of Quicken, Speed Doubler, and FileMaker, and see how the
RSA Data Security Challenge was cracked.
Topics:
MailBITS/27-Oct-97
Subscribe Your Browser to TidBITS
Moving on to a New Challenge
HTMLbits: Taking New Software Out for a Spin
Betting the Orchard
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MailBITS/27-Oct-97
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**Apple Stock Rises as Tech Stocks Tank** -- In today's stock
market crash that resulted trading being halted on the New York
Stock Exchange, it was interesting to note that Apple stock rose
+3/16, whereas many other technology stocks fell sharply,
including Intel's -5 1.4 drop, Motorola's -4 3/4 drop, and
Microsoft's -6 1/2 drop. The only news that would seem to account
for Apple's stock shrugging off the overall market fall was an AG
Edwards report upgrading Apple stock to maintain from reduce,
primarily due to psychological factors related to the expectation
of more positive news emanating from Apple in the near term. [ACE]
**Claris Reports Record Quarter** -- Despite Apple's recently
reported quarterly loss, other financial news relating to Apple is
cheerful. Claris, a wholly owned software subsidiary of Apple,
last week reported record gains for its fourth quarter and its
fiscal year. Revenue for the quarter was $91.1 million and revenue
for the year was $281.7 million. Claris has a policy of not
revealing specific profits but noted that it has been profitable
for the last 20 quarters and that the last quarter and year
represented "record profits." Claris's sales have been boosted by
the terrific popularity of Mac OS 8, which took second place (to
the Windows 95 upgrade) on PC Data's best-sellers chart for
August. The Mac OS 8 upgrade took 11th place. [TJE]
**Apple Announces New MessagePad** -- Apple has announced the
Newton MessagePad 2100, due to ship in November. The 2100
resembles its predecessor, the MessagePad 2000 (reviewed in
TidBITS-379_), but comes with an additional 3 MB of DRAM for a
total of 4 MB, helping users keep multiple programs launched.
Although the Newton 2100 represents an incrementally nicer Newton,
it breaks no new ground. A comparison of the data sheets available
on Apple's Newton Web site shows that only subtle changes further
differentiate the 2100 from the 2000. Through 30-Apr-98 or while
supplies last, Message Pad 2000 owners can upgrade by sending
their MessagePads to Apple for a memory upgrade, new software, and
other goodies (such as a 2 MB flash RAM card while supplies last).
If you purchased a MessagePad 2000 before 07-Nov-97, the upgrade
costs $99; otherwise it is $199. Apple anticipates completing an
upgrade two to five days after receiving a unit. [TJE]
**New Version of Quicken Released** -- Last week, Intuit announced
the availability of Quicken Deluxe '98 and Quicken Basic '98 for
Macintosh and Windows. New features include easier account
reconciliation and QuickEntry, a separate component of Quicken
Deluxe, that streamlines entering routine daily expenses. The
Deluxe version costs $59.98 and comes with a $20 rebate coupon for
those who upgrade. The Basic version costs $39.95 and comes with a
$10 rebate coupon for people who are upgrading. If you bought
Quicken 7 after 16-Aug-97 directly from Intuit, you should
automatically receive a free update; if you bought it elsewhere,
contact Intuit to learn how to upgrade for $9.95.
The new version requires at least a 68030-based Macintosh running
System 7.1 with 12 MB installed RAM (16 MB with Mac OS 8), 45 MB
disk space, color monitor, and a CD-ROM drive. It seems that Mac
Quicken users won't have access to some Internet communications
capabilities of the Windows versions; an Intuit sales rep provided
contradictory information when queried, and at press time we
hadn't heard back from Intuit's PR department. Although we're
pleased that Intuit continues to release Macintosh versions, we
hope that in future years the company will also release Mac
versions of products such as QuickBooks and Quicken Home &
Business. [TJE]
**FileMaker Pro 4.0** -- Claris has released FileMaker Pro 4.0, an
update to their popular database that adds a Web server and
technology acquired from Blue World Communications's Lasso to an
established mix of easy-to-use relational database capabilities.
FileMaker Pro 4.0 can directly serve databases over the Internet
without an intervening CGI program (using Java to build an
interface in the remote user's Web browser). Web authors can also
use special tags in their HTML documents (Claris calls these CDML,
for "Claris Dynamic Markup Language") to include dynamic
information from FileMaker databases in static Web pages.
FileMaker Pro 4.0 can convert graphics to GIF or JPEG format, plus
open some common URL formats and send SMTP mail. Claris is also
touting a new ability to import Excel spreadsheets via drag &
drop. FileMaker Pro 4.0 costs $199 from Claris; upgrades from
FileMaker 3.0 or competing products are $99 in the U.S. [GD]
**Speed Doubler 8** -- Connectix has shipped Speed Doubler 8,
which adds Mac OS 8 compatibility and a few new features. Speed
Doubler's goal is to enhance performance (see the full review of
Speed Doubler 1.0 in TidBITS-292_), and Speed Doubler 8 speeds up
local and network file copies, disk caching, and (on PowerPC
systems only) includes a dynamic recompilation 68K emulator that
can be almost twice as fast as Apple's - handy when using 68K
programs and system components, like AppleScript and the still
widely used Microsoft Word 5.1. Speed Doubler 8 can now schedule
file copies and folder synchronizations, plus navigate menus of
many applications without a mouse, and assign hot keys to common
tasks, such as opening a file or typing a block of text. Speed
Doubler 8 requires System 7.5.5 or later (some features require
Mac OS 8), and a 68030 processor or better. Speed Doubler 8 costs
about $50 ($25 rebate coupons are included for current owners).
[GD]
**Dutch Mailing List Available** -- For those of you who like to
read TidBITS in Dutch, you can now either read the issues on the
Web or subscribe to a mailing list to receive issues
automatically. To subscribe, send email to . We'd like to thank the energetic Dutch
translation team for adding email distribution to the great work
that they're already doing - and thank them for the electronic
congratulations card they sent us for our 400th issue with
pictures of the entire team! [ACE]
**Sour Greps** -- With reference to my Text Machine review in
TidBITS-401_, several readers asked why I thought "grep" didn't
stand for "global regular expression parser". I did, until I
looked it up on the Acronym and Abbreviation Server. Perhaps the
truth is lost in the mists of time?
Tom Ritch pointed out that Nisus Writer now
does put the whole power of its grep into its menu-and-dialog
interface, so the user needn't memorize geeky grep expressions; I
pooh-poohed this, but he was perfectly right - he was talking
about the latest version, 5.1, which I didn't even know existed.
My apologies. [MAN]
**I Sought the Serif** -- In my Font Reserve review in
TidBITS-400_, I lamented its lack of a printing feature.
A splendid shareware utility supplies it: even if your fonts
aren't loaded into the system, Font Gander Pro can show you what
they look like and can print a highly customizable "font book."
The $20 shareware Font Gander Pro is available as a 386K
download. [MAN]
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by Tonya Engst
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week with the latest issue. Note that this sort of subscription is
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If you haven't yet tried subscriptions, in Microsoft Internet
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the Favorites window and clicking in the margin left of the page's
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In Netscape Navigator 3, if you have the Bookmarks window open,
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Of course, we haven't done away with email subscriptions to
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Moving on to a New Challenge
----------------------------
by Tonya Engst
In 250 days and with the combined efforts of some 4,000 teams of
computers, distributed.net has completed the RSA Data Security
Challenge to break a 56-bit RC5 encryption algorithm,
demonstrating that groups of networked computers can break such
encryption. Team members participated by installing client
software on their computers. The client software communicated with
centralized servers over the Internet to perform the math
necessary to break an encrypted message. Before locating the key
needed to decrypt the message, the teams analyzed 47 percent of
the possible keys, some 34 quadrillion sequences. The encrypted
message read, "It's time to move to a longer key length." Although
many Mac users participated, including the Apple Evangelistas team
led by Guy Kawasaki, the key was broken by Peter Stuer's Intel-
based PC. Peter was part of the STARLab Bovine Team, primarily
located in Brussels, Belgium.
Distributed.net has begun a 64-bit challenge and a Macintosh
client is available via FTP as a 303K download; look for it also
on the distributed.net Web site shortly.
Future plans for distributed.net include updating the client
software to version 3, which will be smart enough to query client
hardware to determine which computational tasks suit it best.
Future tasks besides breaking encryption codes may include doing
computational work for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence) and participating in the Mersenne prime number
search. According to David McNett at distributed.net, although
68040-based Macs provide little CPU power to breaking RSA's
encryption challenges, they should prove more useful in locating
new prime numbers. David noted the Macintosh in general and
particularly PowerPC-based Macs made a "very stunning"
contribution to meeting the 56-bit challenge.
HTMLbits: Taking New Software Out for a Spin
--------------------------------------------
by Tonya Engst
The Web has become a fad that just won't stop. And, as the Web
recedes into the assumed background of how capable computer users
manage and locate information, the tools for creating Web pages
continue to diversify. We've reached the point where it would be
almost impossible to mention every program in one article. This
article makes no attempt to do so; instead it builds on my earlier
multi-part article series about Web publishing software and looks
at a clump of recent releases (not betas, but actual shipping
software). I'm hoping to alert you to new trends in what software
is available and to new releases that might be relevant to the Web
publishing that you do.
**Let the Good Times Roll** -- First up is Myrmidon 2.0.1, by
Terry Morse Software. Version 2.0 came out a few weeks ago; the
2.0.1 update appeared today and provides important bug fixes.
Myrmidon, a Chooser extension, "prints" HTML files from most
applications, and is a great choice for quickly turning regular
documents into useful Web pages. When queried, Terry Morse noted
many new features in 2.0, including optional use of tables and
spacer tags for improved fidelity between the original document
and the resulting Web page; more graphics conversion options
(previously Myrmidon only converted bitmaps to GIFs); selectable
color palettes and dithering; and the capability to render
numerous Web pages from one "printed" document, complete with
navigation buttons. The new version is also PowerPC native. The
demo, a 450K download, offers 25 tries with which to tweak the
extensive settings to see if Myrmidon is right for your project.
The suggested retail price is $99; purchasing direct from the Web
costs $69. Upgrades from version 1.x are free.
**Just What I Needed** -- A wonderful program for those looking to
work directly with HTML in an environment that promotes ease and
learning, the $25 shareware PageSpinner 2.0.1 (reviewed in
TidBITS-384_), is always worth a look, even more so now that
Optima System has released a PageSpinner Extension Pack. The new
pack slices and dices HTML in numerous new ways; a few examples
include integration with clip2gif (a freeware graphics conversion
utility) and integration with Apple's new Internet Address
Detectors so selected URLs can be added to PageSpinner documents
quickly. Also included are more JavaScript options and canned
AppleScripts. The Extension Pack is free to registered users.
**Baby You Can Drive My Car** -- The next new kid on the block,
the $299 Freeway 1.0 from SoftPress, takes a different approach to
Web publishing, and I recommend checking it out if you need a
great deal of layout flexibility and control and want to leverage
desktop publishing skills learned in programs like Adobe Photoshop
and QuarkXPress. (On the other hand, if you like to putter in your
HTML, you'll shy away from Freeway's table-based HTML.) Freeway
uses a page and pasteboard metaphor to create Web sites. Items on
pages come from master pages or are inserted into special boxes,
such as GIF boxes or HTML boxes. Freeway competes primarily with
NetObjects Fusion, which also renders layouts in HTML via
extensive table tagging. I spent hours working with Fusion for a
review in TidBITS-391_; having spent only a preliminary half-hour
with Freeway, I already feel more comfortable with it than with
Fusion. Freeway requires at least a 68040-based Mac and 5 to 9 MB
RAM, depending on your processor. A 30-day demo is available as a
5 MB download.
**Shake It Up** -- Finally, those who wish to create cascading
style sheets but don't want to type them in might check out
Cascade Light from Media Design in-Progress. Cascade Light is a
free, feature-reduced version of the $69 Cascade. Using a dialog
box, you can match HTML tags (known as "selectors") with formats
such as font size, background color, and border width. You can
then save these matches as a style sheet or apply them to an
existing HTML document. Cascade won't turn a novice into a style
sheet wizard, but if you have already made a few style sheets by
hand and have a feeling for which style sheet tricks work in which
browsers, Cascade will speed up future efforts. The software still
has a raw feel; interface improvements, a fancier preview, and a
sprinkling of balloon help would be most welcome. (A growing
number of Web publishing applications support style sheets;
PageSpinner and Astrobyte's BeyondPress come to mind as examples).
Betting the Orchard
-------------------
by Adam C. Engst
Apple has released little strategy information to the public after
its widely derided efforts to eliminate the Macintosh clone
market. That doesn't mean that we've ceased to talk with a variety
of friends within Apple and the Macintosh industry in an attempt
to piece together a coherent view of what Steve Jobs is attempting
to do with Apple. Of course, with the rumors of Jobs becoming the
official CEO and mergers with Oracle flying fast and furious, read
TidBITS Updates this week for our take on what happens.
It has become clear that Jobs is "betting the farm," which may be
a peculiarly American expression. Having grown up on a farm, I
believe the saying involves planting completely different crops or
using radical new ways of growing the old ones in an attempt to
escape problems with previous crops, whether related to poor soil,
bad weather, pests, or market conditions. Farming, particularly on
a small scale, is often barely a break-even proposition despite
long hours of back-breaking work, so even stick-in-the-mud farmers
can be convinced to bet the farm on some new crop or technique. If
the bet fails, though, you stand to lose the farm, which is
generally everything you have.
The question is, on what is Jobs betting the farm? And, before we
get to that answer, is such a radical move necessary?
**Why Bet the Farm?** The general consensus from within Apple,
from at least those people who remain, is that something drastic
needed to be done. Apple lost $816 million in 1996 and $1 billion
in 1997, and you don't need an MBA to realize that those numbers
are problematic. Had Apple been a normal company without the often
fanatical loyalty of Macintosh users, it might have been gone long
ago.
The revamped history that I've heard is that Jobs considered Apple
a goner until he assumed control a few months ago. He took major
flak for selling all but a single share of the Apple stock he
received for the sale of NeXT, but it seems clear that at that
point, Jobs essentially wanted to take the money and concentrate
on Pixar. I'm not certain about what changed his mind, but since
that time, despite his coyness about the CEO position, Apple
employees have considered him the leader of the company, going so
far as to refer to him in casual conversation as "SteveEO."
As he learned more about Apple's condition and plans for the
future, Jobs seems to have decided that the company was, for the
most part, milling around aimlessly. If true, it's no great
surprise to many of us; for example, I've been less than impressed
with Apple's Internet strategy since I believe that Apple had (and
subsequently squandered) a several-year lead in Internet
technologies. Thus, Jobs decided to take a slash-and-burn approach
to focusing the company on several core markets, notably education
and publishing. The moves have been nothing short of draconian at
times, and many good people and good projects have been lost in
the process, but as a friend at Apple said, "What have we got to
lose?" (The glib answer is, of course, "Less money.") My friend
also noted that although many of the decisions haven't been
popular, especially with people directly affected by them, much of
the company has been revitalized by the sense of having purpose
and direction once again.
**Ante Up with Network Computers** -- So what is Jobs planting,
now that he's ripped up the still-young orchard of Mac OS clones
and thrown away so much seed? As noted, the two focus markets are
education and publishing, which have always been Apple's
strongholds. In essence, any project that can show how it is
specifically important to either of those markets has full
approval, whereas a project, however worthwhile, that cannot show
its utility to one of those markets are doomed.
The most notable project in this regard is the network computer
project. For those that haven't been paying attention to the hype
(note that essentially no network computers have been sold so
far), a network computer is a computer that accesses both programs
and data over a high-speed network rather than storing them
locally on a hard disk. The advantages are obvious. A network
computer can be cheaper than a regular computer, thanks to the
removal of the hard disk, the circuitry it requires, the beefier
power supply it requires, and so on. Network computers are
essentially interchangeable because (and this is also a negative)
they probably can't be customized to the extent of a normal Mac.
Network computers require less software maintenance since everyone
uses the same applications on the server. Upgrading becomes less
of a nightmare, as does version compatibility, because a network
administrator can ensure that everyone uses exactly the same
versions of programs. In essence, for those of you who have used
dumb terminal attached to mainframes in the past, a network
computer is similar, although with a sufficiently powerful CPU to
perform all necessary processing locally, after the program and
data have been retrieved from the server.
(For more details on the original network computer spec, see
Geoff's article Visions of a Network Computer in TidBITS-330_.)
If you think about it, you'll see that network computers are a
silly idea for most individuals, for the simple reason that we
don't have high-speed networks. However, schools are increasingly
being wired, thanks to efforts like NetDay, and much of what might
make a network computer repellant to individuals is attractive to
schools. Since every network computer would offer the same
capabilities, it wouldn't matter which student (or even which
teacher) used which computer, if there was a network computer in
every classroom. Thanks to the network, every teacher could have
access to the latest student records, including grades,
attendance, and so on. And without hard disks, there would be no
worry of students messing up computers by moving or deleting files
accidentally (a worry which is currently handled well by software
like Peter Lewis's Assimilator).
Until now I've spoken of Apple's network computers generically.
However, network computers from other companies are being based on
Java, whereas Apple plans its network computers to run the Mac OS.
In my view, that's a good move, since education has always liked
the Mac OS's ease of use, and it means there is a huge amount of
mature software ready to run. Such a network computer could run
Java programs also, just as they can be run on Macs today.
Keep in mind this new-found network computer religion isn't
entirely Apple's idea. Word has it that numerous school districts
were coming to Apple and asking about Apple's network computer
plans, saying that if Apple didn't provide a network computer
solution, the schools would go elsewhere for one. So, even if
network computers don't make as much money for Apple than a full-
fledged Mac would (and they probably won't), the contest isn't
between an Apple network computer and a Mac, it's between an Apple
network computer and some other company's product.
**When We'll See More** -- Of course, even with the frenzy of
Jobs-inspired activity at Apple, it takes time to come up with new
products and new directions. The word from sources at Apple is
that a technology plan will be available by the end of October,
and that Jobs will be attempting to knock our socks off with
demonstrations at the Macworld San Francisco keynote in January.
He's done it before - a smoke-and-mirrors demo of the Macintosh
Office (complete with LocalTalk and the first LaserWriter) in the
early days of the Mac was what put the Macintosh on the map.
Even aside from technical issues, Apple faces a tremendous uphill
battle until the release of these technologies (and perhaps
afterwards, depending on how well all this stuff actually works).
Here are some of the weak points as I see them now:
* Public relations. Apple must do a better job of talking to the
press and to users. Stunts like talking about how Apple's newly
revamped tech support policies are wonderful because they're like
Microsoft's support policies are nonsensical and feel like
toadying.
* Developer relations. In at least the Internet developer world,
cynicism about Apple is at an all-time high, and I doubt other
developers are more positive. Without developers, the Mac's
evolution will slow even more in comparison with the Windows
world, and it won't matter what Apple comes up with. I'm not sure
Apple has much goodwill left in the "Trust us" bank.
* Innovation and pricing. After the entire clone debacle, Apple
must come up with fabulous Macs at great prices and continue to do
so for at least a couple of years. Otherwise, the memory of the
cheaper, more powerful clones will sour the taste of every new
Mac.
**Ecosystems** -- I want to leave you with a final thought. Apple
is essentially in survival mode right now and isn't looking
outward. That's understandable, but it means that Apple may do
things that are detrimental for the Macintosh community (and in
fact, the community may do things that harm Apple). In an ideal
world, what would be good for the goose would be good for the
gander, but the real world doesn't necessarily work that way. As
such, I believe that we Macintosh users and Apple must keep in
mind that in the end, we all depend on one another. Apple must do
more to support the community in real ways, and in turn, we should
give Apple a little leeway to pull itself back up. Without
cooperation in _both_ directions, there won't be any more golden
eggs for anyone.
$$
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